Politicians absolved but cash-for-votes stink stays

PROOF OF INNOCENCE: Parliament panel says there is no clinching evidence against Amar Singh.

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New Delhi: SP general secretary Amar Singh and Congress leader Ahmed Patel may be absolved by a parliamentary committee probing the alleged cash for vote scam.

The committee was set up to probe allegations made by three BJP MPs that they were bribed to vote for the UPA Government during the vote of confidence motion in Parliament on July 22.

An interim draft of the report circulated to the committee members says there is no clinching evidence against Singh and Patel. "The terms of the reference of the committee was confined to whether money exchanged hands to influence trust vote," said V Krishna Chandra Deo, chairperson of the Lok Sabha committee.

Just before the trust vote, CNN-IBN conducted a sting operation which showed the three MPs being offered money. The MPs allege the money came from Singh, but the committee has found no evidence of this.

CNN-IBN submitted the original tapes to the commission and deposed before it. Based on the tape and other depositions, the committee could ask that money trail to be investigated by an independent agency.

The committee will meet again on October 17, when the members will be asked to give suggestions and recommend any changes in the initial draft.

"We should try to get a consensus on the report. If there isn't any, dissenting notes should be attached to the main report, said BJP leader V K Malhotra.

The final report is slated to be given to the Lok Sabha Speaker within a week of the beginning of the parliament session later this month.